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The music Wilkes composed for Drop It diverges from the trumpeter's avant-garde roots, with a title track that sounds beautifully in the pocket. Listen for Robert Irving III's unobtrusive electric piano, a woozy frontline melody that peps up to evoke old-school hard-bop, and rhythmically savvy solos that take few harmonic chances, to satisfying effect.

Triumph the Comic Insult Dog's bark may be worse than his bite: The canine puppet has been mocking Hollywood celebrities for over a decade now. Robert Smigel, Triumph's creator, talks about the furry late-night fixture and his other comedy projects.

Catherine Russell embodies a voice so versatile, she transcends genres with each song. Showcasing a repertoire of blues, jazz, swing and R&B, Russell's new album Sentimental Streak is both powerful and vulnerable.

Berklee-educated jazz keyboardist Marco Benevento is defined by two things players with similar training often strive to avoid: jam-band associations and plainspoken, hooky melodies. In "Golden," he applies jazz principles to a My Morning Jacket staple.

After more than a decade of jamming, improvising and experimenting with sound, Benevento has discovered his own way into music by combining the thrust of rock, the questing of jazz and the experimental ecstasy of jam. Hear his trio cover Deerhoof and Leonard Cohen in a session.

Ever since the new "Queen of Blues" made her debut at age 19, she's been working to re-create the blues for a new generation. On Copeland's latest release, Never Going Back, she incorporates pop and jazz into her soulful singing, which conveys a message of inspiration and empowerment for the modern woman.

The pianist for the BMI/New York Jazz Composers Orchestra is also a singer and a former musical director at an Episcopal church. Her latest studio album elaborates on familiar jazz forms while embracing sacred texts, including a piece for Easter vespers.

Drummer Matt Wilson calls his quartet Arts and Crafts because it makes music from scratch. From his "Scenic Route" to bassist Martin Wind's "Cruise Blues" (music for the trip of life) to Carl Sandburg's "Bubbles," this band keeps it musical and fun.

The California native found his way from West Coast beaches to the swamps of New Orleans to perfect his soulful, '70s-style blues-rock. Lindell draws on his travels around the country to infuse his new album, Gulf Coast Highway, with funky grooves, touches of soul and a bit of honky-tonk.

New Orleans is not only the cradle of jazz. It's also the birthplace of great jazz piano, dating back to the early 1900s, when Jelly Roll Morton tickled the ivories. Hear three pianists who are keeping upholding that great tradition — Allen Toussaint, Henry Butler and Jon Cleary — onstage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with Keys to New Orleans.